Step 2: The Background Image
Now this is going to take some artistic work, and patience. Start by loading the aerial photograph image into Paint Shop Pro. I've resized the image to 2560x2560 to support a 5x5 PTG with 512x512 pixel textures.

Using the aerial photograph as a template, we are going to "paint" in the grass and ramp areas. I've just applied a grass texture to the paint can and sprayed in some grass.

In another layer, I've sprayed in some concrete using Paint Shop Pro's default concrete texture.

In a third layer, I've drawn some yellow stripes on the tarmac for taxiway lines and tiedown markings.

Step 3: Create the Alpha Mask
(in Paint Shop Pro...)
First hide background layer so that the image shows only the grass, tarmac and stripes on a transparent background.

Select Masks, New, From Image and create the mask using the Source Opacity setting.

Save the mask to a disk file by selecting: Masks, Save to Disk... Name the file "alpha.msk"

Step 4: Convert the Mask File to BMP

Still using Paint Shop Pro, open the "alpha.msk" file, then save it as a BMP type file by selecting File, Save As. Name the file "alpha.bmp".

Step 5: The Blending Layer
(in Paint Shop Pro...)

Create a new layer underneath the grass, tarmac and stripes layers. Fill this layer with a solid color that will blend with the grass well. You can leave out this step, but you will find that the edge of the grassy area will end up blended with white, causing an unsightly border. Remember to do this AFTER creating the alpha channel, or hide this layer before creating the alpha channel. You want the alpha channel to be created using the transparent background.

Step 6: Save the Source Image

Save the image as a TGA image using File, Save As... Save the file using the UNCOMPRESSED option. This file will be used to create the photo-texture grid textures for each cell.

For my example, I used the title "logan.tga"

Step 7: Create the PTG Textures in TGA Format

Start the TGA Split program. Load the source TGA file, and the Alpha Channel file.

Select the sub-image size: width=512, height=512

Make sure the Overlap Edge Pixel box is checked.

Click Apply. Each sub-image tile will be automatically created in the BMP4444 extended texture format. The files will be titled with a number appended to the name (i.e. "logan0000.tga")

Click to Download TGA Image Splitter

Step 8: Convert the Images to BMP4444 Textures

I created a little batch file to do this using the ImageTool program from the FS2000 Scenery SDK.

Notice the script copies the final .bmp textures to my scenery project's texture folder.

You could also type these lines from a DOS Command Prompt.

Contents of "CONVERT.CMD"

imagetool -4444 -e bmp logan0*.tga
copy logan0*.bmp g:\addon\test\texture

Step 9: Load the PTG
(Back to Architect)

This is the easy step! Just edit the PTG properties, and click "Assign Textures". The Visual Texture Browser will appear.

Click to select the "0000" texture (i.e. logan0000.bmp).

The entire set of textures will automatically be added to the PTG.

Finished!!

Compile and Fly!